Origins
by Epic Bad Ass
Summary: A new kind of war has begun, a war fought in the shadows by those who seek to control this world for their own ends, and by those who would stand against them, Jack Hall is a soldier of this new war, he has a story to tell, and little time left to tell it
1. Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

Please tell me what you think, I've never attempted a story _remotely_ like this before and I'm looking for some feedback, the music playlist for this chapter is available on my author's page, just click the link and click play, this isn't vital to the story or anything it's just something that might enhance the whole _experience_.

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A man lay slumped against a metal wall in a pool of blood, there was very little light in the room 

_"My name's Jack Hall, and I am most unfortunately...a _hero_,"_

_"Oh that's me swimming in the pool of my own blood over there, Captain _fucking_ Fantastic,"_

_"Sorry I seem to have lost my train of thought, the blood that should be flowing to my brain is flowing on the floor, but hey I'm not complaining because as previously stated I am a _hero_, and as a _hero_ I am doomed to die in a lonely blaze of glory, but we'll get to that later."_

_"I'm sure you're all very curious and what not to know what I'm doing slumped against the wall there, besides dieing I mean, but you can't just open the great book of my life and jump to the last page, well I mean you _could_, but that would just ruin the story, so gather around children while Uncle Jack tells you a tale of woe, adventure, mystery and thrilling heroics , it all started about 5 years ago..."_

-

**September 19, 2007 --- Baghdad Governorate Province, Iraq --- 12 miles North-North East of Baghdad --- base camp for 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta**

_"Iraq...Cradle of _Civilization..._well_ _that should tell you something about civilization."_

A group of 4 soldiers in fatigues that carried no insignia were hitting golf balls into the dunes.

_"In case you were wondering I'm the handsome fellow with the chiseled features, sandy blond hair and all around god like body holding the 9 iron."_

The young Jack Hall lined up his shot while giving a rather realistic impression of Ted Copple "Well John the crowd is gathered around to watch PGA Tour Champion Jack Hall line up his shot, and I can't help but wonder if the same thing is going through their mind as it is through mine, _why did I pay to watch this boring ass sport?_"

Jack knocked the ball 200 yards into the dunes, "And that is the key to golf boys, you just got to smack the ball like a pimp on a crazy ass ho, speaking of which how's your mama doing Andre?"

The soldiers laughed,

"Oh I know you don't want to start no mama jokes up in here Hall," said a rather large dark skinned soldier.

"Hey, I'm just being a traditionalist, trash talking is the corner stone of American sports, in case you've forgotten, it's what separates us from un-civilized folk like the French, Johnny Depp, and the authors of self-help books."

"What's wrong with Johnny Depp?"

"He's too good looking, makes me look bad," said Jack passing the club to Andre.

Jack reached into the cooler by his feet and pulled out a bottled water.

"Alright big man let's see what you got,"

Andre knocked the ball 300 yards into the desert.

Jack grinned, "The Force is strong in that one,"

"Captain Hall!"

Jack turned to see who was addressing him, it was a desk jokey from HQ.

"Yes Lieutenant?"

"Sir, Colonel Green requests the presence of you and your team at the command post immediately,"

"We'll be along presently Lieutenant,"

"Yes Sir," said the Lieutenant turning to leave.

"I get the feeling we're about to walk into some sort of _unpleasantness_," said Jerry another team member.

"Trust that feeling," said Jack.

"D-boys to the rescue," said Andre, grinning.

-

"Captain Hall, reporting as ordered sir," said Jack, standing at attention.

"At ease, Captain,"

"I trust you know what Babylon is, Captain."

"Yes sir," said Jack looking slightly confused.

"An archaeological team has unearthed something..._unexpected_," said the Colonel handing Jack a radar imaging photo

"The structure goes down about 150 feet into the earth,"

"What is it sir? Some sort of bunker?"

"Maybe, that's one of the things I want you to find out,"

"You are to enter and search the structure,"

"Sir, this seems like a job that the regular army is perfectly equipped to handle not something you would usually call in Delta for, forgive me for being blunt, but I get the feeling I'm not being told the whole story here,"

"So do I Captain, but my hands are tied these orders come directly from the Department of Defense, and they specifically requested that a team of Delta operators be sent in."

"Yes sir,"

"The 160th SOAR has a helicopter standing by to fly you in, get your team geared up and prepare to move out."

-

_"Warfare has changed a lot over the years, used to be that soldiers met each other on a nice big open field and then proceeded to kill the shit out of each other in an orderly fashion, the side that brought more people to the party was usually the winner. Nowadays big numbers don't decide the outcome of a battle, in fact they may even hold you back, large numbers mean more mouths to feed, supplies and resources are spread thinner, oh and people no longer meet each other on a nice big open field, they expect you to come to them, and they're usually waiting with fun little surprises when you do. Warfare has become something of an equation, battles are decided by a list of _variables_, training, technology, money, psychology, environment, it gives me a fucking headache just thinking about it."_

_"Anyway believe it or not I do have a point to all this just let me get there, at some point during the 20th century the military had an epiphany, why send 100,000 thousand soldiers overseas to fight a war and lose 10,000 in the process, wouldn't it be better to just send in a couple squads of highly trained soldiers and prevent an issue from ever turning into a war in the first place? Brilliant idea right? The British were the first ones to come up with it, they created the _Special Air Service Regiment_, sure the name makes them sound like pansies, but I've fought with these guys, they're serious bad asses, after the S.A.S. America followed suit by creating _1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta_ you might know it as_ Delta Force_, and sure a few whiny little bitches in the _SEALS _may claim they were first, but trust me, Delta is by far the biggest collection of bad asses in the U.S. Military. Which is why when confronted with the strangest mission of my military career I only needed to bring three D-boys along with me, at least that's what I thought, boy was I ever fucking wrong."_

"So Hall what do you think we're going to find down there?" asked Sanchez

"A couple of playboy bunnies, a plasma TV, a fridge stocked with beer, good beer, none of that cheap shit, and a toilet made out solid gold, why what do _you_ think we're going to find?"

The team laughed.

"Maybe we'll find a few of those WMD's everybody's talking about," joked Andre.

"Shit I hope not that would be a fucking catastrophe, I'd have to give Jerry the hundred bucks I bet him when I said they were imaginary,"

"Ha Ha Ha, no seriously guys don't you think it's a little weird for that to be a structure buried _underneath_ Babylon?"

"That's a _great_ point Sanchez, maybe the _aliens_ left it there," joked Jerry.

"Who's to say they didn't?" said Sanchez seriously, "The structure is made of metal, and is located underneath Babylon how else could it have gotten there?"

"Well here's a theory Sanchez, Saddam Hussein was bat shit crazy, he buried bodies in Babylon, hell at one point he even tried to rebuild the fucking city itself, it isn't highly unlikely that he would build a bunker underneath the city, it's a good location too only 85 miles out of Baghdad, and the historical value of Babylon makes it unlikely anybody would do much digging around with a bulldozer, a good place to hide should his enemies ever come a knocking."

"Well smart ass if that's true then why didn't he hide there when _we_ came a knocking?"

"He didn't have a chance, we cut him off from Babylon soon after we invaded."

"Ok, I guess we'll just find out when we get there won't we?"

Jack smiled and turned to Jerry, "So Jerry what color do you think the aliens are going to be? Green or _grayish_ green?"

"Asshole," laughed Sanchez

"Hey D-Boys!" shouted the pilot

"We're here!"

Jack looked out at the ground below at the ruins of the ancient city, he expected to have his breath taken away, but unfortunately time had been cruel to Babylon, stripping it of its beauty, all that remained was crumbling foundation. "It's hard to believe that this was once the greatest city on the planet, makes you wonder what a city like New York will be like in a thousand years,"

"You're getting a little nostalgic on us Captain,"

"Oh am I? Looks like the archaeological team is waiting for us on the ground," said Jack pointing.

Jack and the rest of the team checked their weapons while the chopper landed then went to meet the archaeologists.

"Hey there, Captain Jack Hall, United States Army, I believe you were expecting us?"

"I suppose you'll be wanting to go down into the structure as well?"

"Was someone here before us?" asked Jack suddenly alert.

"Yeah a dozen Rangers went down about 30 minutes ago, they were lead by this one woman, all I got to say is you must be recruiting the beautiful ones these days."

Jack exchanged a look with his team, "Did you see their identification?"

"No, didn't ask for it,"

"Of _course_ you didn't, if you could just point us the way?"

"Fucking civilians," muttered Jack when he was out of ear shot of the archaeologists.

"What do you reckon, mercenaries?"

"It would have to be, Army Intelligence would of informed us if they'd sent someone else in, they're not _completely _brain dead,"

"I'm more interested in what could be valuable enough for them to risk jail time, my guess of a solid gold toilet might not be so far off,"

The team approached the entrance of the structure.

-

"Holy shit, the aliens speak _English_," said Jack flashing the light on the sign, it read **Level 3.**

"So I was off about the whole alien theory,"

"Well _duh_, but that's not the interesting thing, the _interesting_ this is that I was off about my Saddam theory, Iraqis didn't build this place," said Jack flashing his light down the hall.

There was a whirring mechanical noise and the hall was flooded with light as the fluorescent lights above switched on.

"It would appear our _Ranger comrades_ have found the light switch, what do you say we go congratulate them?" said Jack switching the safety off his M4 carbine.

"Oh _hell_ yeah" grinned Andre.

"What do you think stairs or elevator?"

"They probably have a scout still stationed at the stairs, I doubt they got to the elevators yet," said Jack opening the elevator door.

"Looks to be in working order," observed Jack

Jack hit the button for Level 1 and the elevator began moving down.

"Why Level 1?" asked Sanchez.

"Because I'm hoping they're not there yet and that we can cut them off and bring this whole thing to a _peaceable_ end, and because I'm curious to see what's at the bottom of this rabbit hole."

The doors of the elevator opened up, but Jack wasn't quite ready for the scene before him.

"Huh, _not_ I was expecting,"

"That's..That can't actually be...a...you know,"

"It's some sort of experimental aircraft or something,"

_"No it wasn't, it was exactly what it looked like...a bunch of _fucking_ trouble,"_

In the center of the room, held in place in the air by crane and chains was a large disk shaped object that looked suspiciously like something out of a scifi movie.

"Can anyone tell me why I'm staring at a fucking flying saucer?"

"Sorry Captain,"

"Alright, just push it to the back of your heads we got a job to do, Sanchez, Andre set up position over there," said Jack pointing.

"Jerry you're with me, don't kill anybody unless you absolutely have to I got a question or _two_ I'd like to ask these people,"

"Really? Like what?" asked a feminine voice above him.

_"This where our story really begins, when I met her, _Rachel_, the most beautiful and deadliest woman I've ever layed eyes on,"_

Jack looked up at the woman, he'd seen a pretty girl or two in his time, but no one like this, she had long black hair pulled into a pony tail, an athletic build and the face of a goddess, but her most striking feature was her eyes, pure blue, not a hint of white or black, it was like staring into the ocean.

"Because if we're asking questions there are a couple that come to mind, mainly being who the fuck are you and what are you doing here?" she said in a cheerful voice.

_"It was love at first sight as you can tell,"_

"Did they just get the _drop_ on us Captain?" asked Jerry a little confused.

"It would seem to be the case," said Jack, slightly embarrassed, looking up at the row of guns in his face.

"Oh don't feel too bad about it, we placed a motion sensor at the entrance we knew the second you entered,"

"Bullshit, we checked for sensors,"

"Not this kind of sensor," smiled the woman,

The woman gestured to one of the men currently pointing a gun at Jack's head, "Terrence this an asshole, asshole this is our motion sensor."

"Okay not quite catching your meaning there, but if you would all be so kind as to surrender your weapons to us, we won't have to _kill_ you."

"Now is not the time to be cute,"

"Oh so you think I'm cute?"

The woman didn't rise to the bait, "I'll ask again, who are you and what are you doing here?"

"United States Army, we came in here to get out of the sun, kinda _hot_ out there."

"Bullshit," said one of the men, "They're not carrying any rank or insignia on their uniforms, they're not Army,"

"_Deltas_," said Rachel nodding her head, "This must be _really_ embarrassing for you hot shots, getting ambushed so easily and all,"

"You caught us on a bad day,"

"You have _no_ idea, let me guess the Army sent you in here thinking this place was some sort of _bunker_?"

"Dead on," winked Jack

"He's lieing," said Terence "His orders came from the Pentagon, he works for _them_,"

"No," said the woman, her voice losing all cheerfulness, "They woudn't send the Army in to do their dirty work, there is another player at work here, dig deeper what do they know?"

Terence furrowed his brow in concentration, "They don't know anything, but I can't get a good read on that one," he said pointing at Jack.

"I think he's one of us,"

"Really?" said the woman curiously.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Jack heard the sound of gunfire up above.

Rachel spoke into her radio, "Lassiter, Reyes what hell is going on up there?"

"They're here! Get the data and get get the hell out of there, we'll hold them off as long as we can!"

Rachel turned to her squad, "Lower your weapons,"

"We're going to have to _trust_ each other," she said to Jack.

"They're are some very bad people up there right now killing my men, and when they're done with them they're going to come down here and do the same to us, unless we work together."

"I'll go along with you," said Jack, "For the time being,"

"Good,"

Rachel turned to her men "Get as much data as you can from the ship,"

"D-boys! Follow me we need to get the back door open."

"There is a back door?" asked Sanchez

"Did I not just fucking say that?"

"You know why we're walking I don't suppose you'd mind answering a few questions, the big one one being what the fuck is that hanging in the middle of the room?" asked Jack.

"Exactly what you think it is, it crashed here in 1971, this facility was constructed to hold it, but due to a bizarre set of events the location of the facility was lost, until quite recently. And we _don't _have time to answer any more questions, so kindly shut the fuck up and do _exactly_ as I say."

The team walked up to a door on the far side of the room.

"This door leads to a tunnel that will take us to the surface, help me get it open,"

Jack and Andre grabbed the handle and pulled with all their considerable strength but it wouldn't budge, "It's been sealed," said Jack reaching into his pack and pulling out a breaching device and placing it on the door.

"This explosive has a 60 second timer, get away from the door,"

"The weapons fire has stopped," noted Andre.

"Take up positions!" ordered Jack.

"What if she's lieing, what if they're our own people?" asked Jerry.

The door to the stairs blew open and 4 squads of men dressed in black fatigues came rushing into the room, firing as they went, 2 of Rachel's men went down within the first second.

"That answer your fucking question!" roared Rachel opening fire.

"Take them down!" shouted Jack

Jack shot one in the chest with a Burst from his M4, the man staggered back but kept coming.

"Kevlar! shoot the fuckers in the head!" he shouted putting 3 rounds through the man's temple.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Jack watched as Rachel dropped 6 of them in a single second with her sidearm, such shooting wasn't just good, it was fucking impossible, there wasn't a marksman in the world who could pull off a stunt like that, and then she did it again, Jack shook his head and went back to the battle targeting 3 assholes who were firing at his position and dropping them with a burst from his carbine.

Jack was suddenly tackled from the side as one of the men in black collided with him, Jack grabbed the man's head in his hands and twisted, snapping his neck then pulled out his sidearm and shot down the two men who had targeted him while he was on the ground. From his position on the ground Jack watched as Rachel sliced open a man's throat with a knife then threw it into the head of an oncoming attacker where it stuck in place, buried 5 inches into the man's skull.

2 more of Rachel's men went down, Andre was dragging Sanchez's limp body behind cover while Jerry gave him cover fire. There was loud humming sound Jack looked up, the ship had began glowing there was a blinding white light and then Jack heard a strange deep voice.

**I AM THE BEGINNING, I AM THE END**

"Jack! Jack wake the hell up!"

Jack opened his eyes and saw Jerry and Rachel standing over him.

"What the hell happened?" groaned Jack.

"What happened? _You_ fucking happened man! The ship started glowing and then you started hovering in the air, light was shining out of your body and then it was like your body sent out a shock wave or something it slammed all the bad guys into the wall knocking them out cold, and just when I thought this day couldn't get any weirder."

"We need to get out of here, they'll be back with more people," said Rachel

"Who was speaking?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Someone said...forget about it,"

"Sanchez?"

Jerry shook his head, Jack looked over to where Andre was kneeling and saw Sanchez lying on the floor.

"The bullet ripped through his throat there was nothing we could do,"

"Oh god damnit!"

"Grab his dog tags if you want, we can't take him with us," said Rachel helping Jack to his feet

"Like hell we can't! He's one of us!" shouted Andre getting to his feet.

Rachel walked over to the bodies of one of the assailaint and reached into his fatugues and pulled out an ID and threw it to Andre.

"Apparently so were they,"

Andre opened it up, "Oh shit,"

"Oh shit is right,"

The ID read National Security Administration.


	2. Chapter 2: You Can't Go Home Again

The playlist link for this chapter is available on my author's page, I'm really interested to know what you think of this chapter, and as always I'm happy to return the favor if there are any stories you would like me to review for you.

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_When a soldier enlists in the military they give an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic, they promise to follow the orders of those over them without question and all the soldier expects in return is 3 square meals a day a paycheck that falls below the poverty line, and that those in charge not stab them in the fucking back and twist the knife. But as Mick Jagger once said,_ you can't always get what you want.

"We killed are own fucking guys!" cursed Andre throwing the ID across the room.

"They were off the reservation," said Rachel calmly.

"Do you know that? Because I sure as shit don't, for all I know you're a terrorist and they were sent here to take you out, and we got in the way."

"I don't think so Andre," said Jack.

"Counter Terrorism is _our_ buisness, the NSA doesn't have jurisdiction here, I think it's _slightly_ more likely they were here for that," said Jack indicating the ship.

"They're freelancing," Rachel explained.

"For who?" asked Jack turning to her.

"A rogue government agency hell bent on world domination," said Rachel simply.

Jack gave her a look, "Ooookay then...," he said turning away.

"Are we actually _believing_ this bullshit Captain?" asked Jerry.

"It doesn't matter what we believe, Army Intelligence needs to be appraised of the situation here, we need to get to the surface, you two carry Sanchez," ordered Jack.

"He's dead weight, he'll only slow us down," said Terrence

Jack turned to Rachel, "Shut your man up or I'll shut him up for you," he growled.

"You need to start thinking tactically---"

Jack hit Terrence hard across the face knocking him to the ground."

Rachel bent down to help him up, "You're a mind reader how the hell did you not see that one coming?" she asked.

"He doesn't think," growled Terrence, "He just acts, without a thought of the repercussions"

"It's called winging it, and what's this shit about reading minds, I've had just about all the fucking weirdness I can handle for one day," said Jack, picking his sidearm up from the ground and holstering it.

"I really think this is a conversation for another time, we need to get the fuck out of here, we got 30 minutes tops before this place is swarming with assholes again," said Rachel throwing her rifle across her back.

"Where does this tunnel lead?" asked Jack, pointing to the doors he had blown open earlier.

"To the abandoned town of Al-Gustaf, the people that I work for have a chopper standing by 30 minutes out ready to take us out of the country, we'll radio it when we get to the surface,"

Jack could forsee a problem with that plan, but he knew when to pick his battles, Rachel still had 3 mercenaries under her command, and even if she didn't Jack wasn't so sure it would have mattered after seeing the way he she had killed the NSA black ops team. Jack would have to wait for the right moment to gain control of the situation, then he would haul her and her team over to HQ and get some _real _answers out of them and not just a big steamy pile of _bullshit_. But until then he had to play nice, he had already given Jerry and Andre the code word to do so "It doesn't matter what we believe." Jack drawed upon the mental conditioning he had received to resist interrogation and pushed all plans of a coup to the back of his mind.

"Lead the way," Jack said looking into Rachel's pure blue eyes, not a sign of deception on his face.

_You know the old expression _you can't play a player_, yeah well it turns out it's not entirely true, you can, you just have to be _better_ than the player in question, unfortunately _Rachel _was the best._

Rachel smiled a carnivorous grin, "Alright," she said.

_In other words;_ game on.

-

It took them 30 minutes to make their way through the tunnel to the surface, they finally kicked open a door that had been covered from the outside by sand and stepped into the hot desert sun.

As soon as they were outside Jack picked up his radio preparing to call in to HQ, when he felt the cold touch of metal against his skull. Jack looked out the corner of his eye and saw Rachel holding a gun to his head.

"Hand it over, _slowly_" she said holding out her hand.

Jack handed her the radio.

"Now advise your men to lower their weapons," she said gesturing to Jerry and Andre who both had their M4 carbines trained on Rachel and her men.

"Jerry, Andre, keep your weapons trained on these assholes," said Jack.

Rachel sighed, "You and me are having some_ trust_ issues Jack,"

"It's nothing personal Rachel, I just don't like being lied to, It's bad for my _self esteem_."

"You know, now you're _pissing me off_, I haven't lied to you yet, the truth is just going to be a little hard for you to accept, but trust me you'll get there, you're _one of us_ after all."

"And exactly what the_ hell_ is that supposed to mean?"

Rachel turned to Terrence, "Give him a demonstration,"

"Your first mission as a Delta Operator was in...Africa..._Zaire_ to be specific...you were captured for..._2 weeks_...wow...you have a _really_ high tolerance for pain,"

Jack swallowed, "Ok, _that_ was a little disturbing."

"We're the next stage in human evolution, kind of like the X-men, if you're a comic book man that is,"

Rachel turned to Terrence, "Is he?"

"His favorite character is Wolverine,"

"_Really?_ Mine too," she said smiling.

"KEEP HIM THE _FUCK_ OUT OF MY HEAD!" roared Jack knocking Rachel's arm aside and moving to stand next to Jerry and Andre.

"_Easy _Jack, I was just proving a point," she said still not taking her gun off him.

"We all have different abilities, mine for example is preternatural vision and reaction timing, when I say I _let_ you knock my arm aside, trust me I'm _not_ trying to save face. The color of my eyes isn't the result of contacts, it's how I was born, as a kid I always had to wear sunglasses, even though I've never actually _needed_ them. You see what I just did? I _shared _something about myself, your turn, tell me about your abilities how do they work?"

"He doesn't know, they've only manifested within the last hour, I did a little digging around when I was looking for his favorite color." said Terrence.

_Something you should understand about Terrence; he's a fucking asshole._

"We _really_ need to work on your people skills Terrence," said Rachel shaking her head.

"Come with us Jack," said Rachel turning back to Jack, "We'll answer all your questions, and we can help you understand your abilities, we're _the good guys_."

"I think I'm going to have to pass," said Jack dryly.

"You can't go back Jack, _none_ of you can," she said addressing Jerry and Andre, "They'll kill you, you see they have a policy on witnesses, it's simple, there aren't any."

"I doubt it," said Jack, "Pentagon sent us down there, they wouldn't do that if they were planning on killing us."

Rachel shook her head, "I don't know who's pulling your strings, but it's _not_ the Pentagon, probably someone high up there though, have to be to call in a team of Delta Operators."

Jack was about to make a retort but was cut off.

"Contact!" shouted one of Rachel's men.

6 Black Hawk helicopters were barreling towards them at full speed, Jack pulled out a pair of binoculars and studied the markings.

"Those aren't ours!" he said pulling out his carbine.

"Radio our people! We need evac now!" shouted Rachel.

"Get to the town!" shouted Jack.

Jerry and Andre moved to pick up Sanchez's body.

"Leave him, we'll come back for him!" shouted Jack taking off.

The team reached the walls of Al-Gustaf when the Black Hawk helicopters unleashed a torrent of chain gun fire that hit the wall splattering bits of rock on Jack's fatigues.

"We have a couple of Javelins stored in the basement of a building on the North East side of town, give us cover an we'll blow those fuckers out of the sky!" shouted Rachel from behind a slab of concrete.

"Fine! Do it!" shouted Andre targeting the gunner of one of the Black Hawks while Rachel and her men made a run for it.

"We need to separate! Draw the helicopters off in different directions!" shouted Jack.

-

Rachel ducked inside one of the buildings as the helicopter made another pass, one of her team was a little to slow in moving and got riddled full of holes by the helicopters chain gun. She didn't really feel much sadness over the loss, _people die what was the big fucking deal?_ People said she was damaged, but she preferred to think of it as realism taught by life full of depressing experiences; it _sounded_ prettier.

Terrence and the remaining mercenary opened fire on the helicopter from the window but the bullets just pinged off of its armored hull.

"Whose bright fucking idea was it to hide the Javelins all the way on the other side of town?" she demanded.

"I believe it was his," said Terrence pointing at the body in the street.

"Oh," said Rachel.

"Well at least the D-boys are keeping most of the helicopters off our backs, I wonder how they're holding up?"

-

Jerry ran down the narrow alley like a bat out of hell, he had hoped that the alley way would be too narrow for the chain gunner to get a lock on him, but instead of giving up and flying away the gunner responded by unleashing a salvo of fire into the buildings around Jerry trying to collapse the alley. The result was Jerry was now running for his life while playing dodgeball with slabs of falling rock. Jerry ducked out of the alley and pulled a smoke grenade from his belt dropping it behind him smoke rapidly filled the streets obscuring the helicopter's vision and forcing the gunner to fire blindly and in the wrong direction.

Jerry ducked into the tallest building he could find and began climbing to the top while the gunner continued to fire into the smoke Jerry emerged onto the roof and came into view of the helicopter. He took two grenades off his belt, pulling the pins he lobbed them into the helicopter's open door. The crew scrambled to grab the grenades the gunner was the first to get hold of one, he picked it up in his hand preparing to throw it back to Jerry when it exploded in his fist. The helicopter erupted in flames and toppled end over end to the ground while its engines made a whining noise.

BOOOOOOM!

The helicopter hit the ground sending up fire and shrapnel.

"Oh hell yeah! That's what you get _bitch!_ You don't want to mess with me!" cheered Jerry.

Jerry heard the whirling sound of motors behind him, and turned around to come face to face with another helicopter, Jerry and the gunner locked eyes for a moment.

"Aw shi-"

Jerry was cut off as the gunner opened fire, the bullets ripped through his body and he fell to the ground in a pool of blood, his eyes were still open but there was no life in them.

-

Jack heard the explosion from inside the building.

"One down, five to go," he said peeking out the window and looking at the helicopter that was currently firing into random buildings trying to find him.

Jack took a drink out of his canteen and a bite out of an energy bar.

He was going to have to do something crazy pretty soon, if he stayed here much longer the helicopter would give up and go after somebody else and Jack was pretty sure everyone else had enough shit to handle. Jack moved to the window and took careful aim with his carbine at the helicopter's gunner and fired a burst into his chest, then jumped out the window and ran to the building across the street and out the back door.

Jack counted 8 people in this particular Black Hawk, he calculated it would take about 15 seconds for some else to get on the turret, which left him with 7 seconds to get into position for his next shot. Jack kicked open the door to his next position and looked around the room, the walls of this building were extremely thick, the Black Hawks rounds wouldn't penetrate them, assuming they weren't carrying rockets they would have to land troops to come and get him, there were only 4 possible entrances to the building, Jack would use them as choke points.

All that was left was to signal his position loud and clear for the helicopter. Jack leaned out the window and fired a three round burst at the choppers tail and ducked back in as it returned fire. They knew he was here now, they would come after him. Jack reached into his pack and pulled out 4 claymores and a detonator. And they would be in for one _hell_ of an upset when they did.

-

Andre finished planting the last claymore and dropped to the ground and ran for cover inside the building across the street, then poking his head outside the window he targeted the helicopters that were currently firing into a building about 200 feet from his position. He opened up with his carbine the rounds bouncing harmlessly off the choppers armor, but it still got their attention; one of the choppers peeled off and went after Andre.

Andre continued to fire, drawing the chopper closer until it was right on top of him. The sound of the helicopters chain guns was deafening as it ripped away at Andre's cover. Andre hung low to the ground and pulled a detonator out of his pocket and keyed it.

BOOOOOM!

The side of the building across the street came down on the choppers propellers sending it crashing to the ground, there was no explosion however. Andre got up exiting his cover, he walked over to the chopper and took one look at the groaning bodies inside. He then pulled out his sidearm and put a bullet through the head of anything that was still moving. He looked in the chopper for anything that he could use and spotted a radio and a 12.7x99mm sniper rifle, something that actually had a chance of bringing one of these Black Hawks down he grabbed the radio and the rifle and took off just as the other chopper that had been firing into the building took off after him.

BAM!

The bullet ripped through his leg, breaking his femur in half, Andre hit the ground hard.

"I got him," came the voice over the radio Andre had taken.

Andre hid the rifle with his body.

"Get us a good view, I want to see this son of a bitches face when I put the bullet in his head,"

Andre could hear the chopper hovering high above him, he suddenly flipped around and targeted the cock pit with the sniper rifle and emptied the magazine into the pilot and the co-pilot. The pilot's body slumped forward on the controls and the chopper went flying toward the ground, straight towards Andre. Andre tilted his head to the side and studied that chopper as it came barreling towards him.

"Well ain't _this_ a bitch," he said.

BOOOOOOOOM!

-

"Whoa," said Rachel as she watched the chopper come crashing into the ground.

"Let's get to the Javelins while the coast is clear," she said turning to Terrence, her teams sole survivor, the remaining mercenary had died before the two choppers that were filling the building with bullets were finally drawn off.

Rachel and Terrence ran down to the end of the street and kicked open the door to their destination.

They made their way to the basement where a FGM-148 Javelin missile launcher and a case of ammunition were waiting on the floor, Rachel and Terrence grabbed them and exited the building.

-

Jack opened fire outside the window at the mercenaries rappelling down the helicopter, targeting the rope they were using to rappel down he shot it in half, two mercenaries fell flailing through the air to the ground. Jack ducked back into the building as the Black Hawk's machine gunner opened fire on him. This was proving to be a bit more complicated than Jack had expected, the helicopter that he had baited over here was now joined by two others who were dropping mercenaries into the courtyard in front of him, pretty soon they would come knocking down the doors of building.

The door on the far side of the room kicked in and two mercenaries entered the building in breaching formation. Jack keyed the claymore beneath the mercenaries feet and they were blown into the alley outside.

A second door was kicked open and Jack keyed the detonator again blasting two more mercenaries into tiny little pieces.

Three mercenaries suddenly rushed in from the two blown out entrances. Jack ducked under fire, raised his carbine and blew off the head of a mercenary who had taken aim at him. The remaining two mercenaries took aim at him from behind, Jack rolled sideways dodging their fire, then opened up on them with his carbine and dropped them to the floor.

The remaining doors were kicked open simultaneously, Jacked keyed the remaining claymores then pulled out his sidearm and began engaging the enemy in close quarters.

-

Rachel watched as the remaining 3 choppers converged on a building where one of the D-boys was held up, she lifted the Javelin over her shoulder and locked on to one of the Black Hawks currently pouring machine gun fire into the building, hearing the beeping sound confirming a lock on she launched the missile.

BOOOOOOOM!

The chopper exploded in a flash of fire and shrapnel. Rachel reloaded and targeted the next chopper.

-

Jack was close to being over run, his reflexes couldn't keep up with the amount of soldiers pouring into the building, Jack felt a searing pain as two bullets hit his shoulder and leg, he suddenly fell to his knees. The mercenaries surrounded him, Jack looked around at all the weapons trained on him.

"Do you surrender?" asked the apparent commander.

"What the fuck!?" shouted several mercenaries jumping away from Jack who had began shining with light.

Jack looked up at the mercenaries, **"I am the beginning, I am the end and you're _all_ going to die,"** he stated slamming his hands together.

-

Rachel took down the last chopper with the Javelin and pulled out her rifle.

"Let's go help out the D-Boy," she said turning to Terrence.

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!**

The building the choppers and been firing into exploded in a flash of light. Rachel and Terrence shielded their eyes and when the light faded all that remained of the building was a shining crater of super heated sand and rock that had been turned to glass, in the middle of which laying apparently unconscious was Jack.

Rachel dropped down from the building she was standing on and ran to the crater, she quickly bent down and checked Jack's pulse, it was surprisingly strong considering he had two bullet holes in him.

Rachel heard the roar of engines as her chopper finally arrived, she turned to Jack and began bandaging his wounds.

Four people carrying a stretcher came running towards her.

"Get him on board," she said.

"He's _one of us_."


	3. Chapter 3: The Human Scale

The playlist for this chapter is available on my author's page just click on the link and click play and you're good to go. I really, _really_, want to know what you think of this chapter so please I'm begging you leave a review, and I'm always happy to return the favor if you have a story you would like to look at.

_

* * *

_

_The 10 days after the battle of Al-Gustaf I was mostly absent for, so theres not much I can tell you about what happened._

The helicopter set down on the landing pad at the end of the ship and a group of people stepped out carrying a man on a stretcher. A man and a woman in the white coats of doctors ran up to meet them.

"What have we got?" asked the woman.

"Gun shot wound to the right shoulder and left hip, bleeding has been stabilized, the bullets avoided all major arteries," said Rachel stepping out of the helicopter.

"Alright, " said the woman in the white coat, "Let's get him into surgery,"

Rachel watched as the doctors hauled Jack off beneath deck, he would be alright. She gave a long sigh and looked out over the crystal blue water of the Persian Gulf taking in the beauty of the sunset.

-

Jack held the duffel bag in one arm and stared around the crowded airport with a look of confusion on his face, he recognized the airport as John F. Kennedy International but something was off about the whole scene, it was like deja'vu but stronger, like he had _literally_ lived this scene before but he couldn't remember, almost like something was _blocking_ him from doing so.

"Hey Rat Face!" shouted a voice.

Jack turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw a pretty young blond women standing 10 feet away grinning at him.

"Skunk Breath!" shouted Jack grinning.

The woman ran up and hugged him, "Man, I've never been happier to see my _stupid_ big brother," she said chuckling.

"Well I wasn't going to miss my own sister's _wedding_, when have you ever known me to pass up _free_ food?" he said patting her on the back.

"Where's the other member of this _unholy _alliance?" asked Jack.

"He's out of town, but he'll be back tomorrow. Don't worry he's _not_ going to miss his own wedding."

"Why Sarah the thought _never_ crossed my mind," said Jack innocently.

"_Really?_ Not once?" said his sister with a wry smile.

She bent down to try to pick up Jack's bag but couldn't get it off the floor.

"Don't strain yourself too hard there muscles," said Jack bending down to pick up the bag.

"I was afraid the Army wouldn't give you the time off," said Sarah walking with Jack to the exit.

"Well, I might have lead them to believe that grandma just kicked the bucket and I'm here for the funeral,"

"You _didn't_," said Sarah shocked.

"Actually _no_ I didn't, I just told them I needed some time off and they gave it to me. I'm a bona fide hot shot now, that comes with _benefits_."

"Oh yeah! Delta Force you're going to have to tell me all about that," said Sarah.

"Sorry kiddo no can do, that would violate national security and I might have to _kill_ you," said Jack simply.

"Smart ass," laughed Sarah hitting Jack on the arm.

Jack and Sarah arrived at her car, Jack threw his duffel bag into the back and climbed into the passenger seat.

"You know since you're here; you and Dad really ought to get together and talk," said Sarah slyly, starting the car.

"Don't start Sarah," said Jack seriously.

_"What?"_ asked Sarah innocently pulling out.

"So have you talked to _Renee_ lately?" asked Sarah

"This is going to be a _long_ fucking car ride isn't it?" said Jack humorlessly

-

"Damn machine is broken," cursed the doctor banging on the electrocardiograph.

"Yeah well banging on it is _sure_ to make it all better, what's wrong?" asked one of the surgeons sewing up the man's wound.

"The ECG keeps showing two distinct brain waves." explained the doctor.

"That has to be a mistake, you're interpreting it wrong," said the surgeon looking up at the ECG.

"What are you talking about, I don't see anything,"

The doctor looked back to the ECG which was now giving a normal reading.

"I swear to god it was just there! _Two_ distinct brain waves!"

"Just monitor the man's anesthesia levels," said the surgeon exasperatedly.

-

"I'm _not_ a tourist Sarah, why the hell did you drag me here?" asked Jack gesturing around the lobby.

"Do you _need_ a reason to marvel at feat of structural engineering such as this?" asked Sarah gesturing around the building.

"Sears Tower is bigger," said Jack unimpressed.

"Are you _sure_ you're from New York?" asked Sarah exasperatedly.

"_Bigger_ isn't the point. The architect who designed this tower and it's sister next door was once asked 'why two 110-story buildings?' 'why not just one 220-story building?' You know what he said?" asked Sarah.

"He said 'I didn't want to lose the _human_ scale'" answered Jack.

Sarah gave Jack a surprised look, "Just because I'm pretty don't mean I'm stupid," said Jack smiling.

"There are different kinds of stupid Jack," said Sarah slyly.

"_Sarah Hall_; professional pain in the ass and philosopher all rolled into one annoying little package," said Jack grinning.

"Asshole," laughed Sarah, punching Jack on the arm.

"Alright so is there an _actual _reason you've dragged me to the World Trade Center?"

"Yeah, we need to meet with the assistant wedding planner," said Sarah walking to the elevators.

"Fantastic," muttered Jack following.

Jack suddenly caught sight of a hooded figure dressed in pure white robes, once again Jack had the sudden and unshakable feeling that something was not right with the scene before him, that he had lived this moment before but couldn't remember when. Jack stopped to get a better look at the figure but then a crowd of people stepped in front of his vision and the figure disappeared along with Jack's feeling. Jack shook his head and went to join his sister on the elevator.

Sarah punched the button for floor 82. A thought suddenly occurred to Jack as the elevator rose up. The doors opened and Sarah and Jack walked down the crowded hall.

"You know it seems strange for a wedding planner to have an office in the World Trade Center, considering the leases run upwards of 10,000 dollars." commented Jack.

Sarah sped up her walking pace.

"_Damnit_ Sarah, I _don't_ want to see him. Me and him in the same room is just a recipe for unpleasantness and you know it."

"Well _Jack_, it's gonna happen sooner or later, he_ is_ giving me away tomorrow," said Sarah stopping at a door and opening it up.

Sitting down at a desk inside the room with a telephone to his ear was man in his late 50's; he looked up from his desk at the newcomers.

"Marty, I'm going to have to call you back," he said putting down the phone and addressing one of the newcomers.

"Jack," he said rather stiffly.

"Dad," said Jack, equally as stiffly.

"Soooooo," said Sarah, "This _certainly_ isn't awkward." she said attempting to break the ice.

"You know what I'm just going to step out for a moment and let you two catch up," she said stepping out of the room.

"She's like her mother, always trying to keep the _peace_," said his father smiling.

"I didn't think you would make it back for the wedding," said his father conversationally.

"And I didn't think you would have scheduled half the afternoon off for something as insignificant as your own daughter's wedding, but I guess life is full of surprises, isn't it pop?" replied Jack.

"Indeed," said his father, still keeping the tone of the conversation civil.

"So how is the _Army_ treating you? Kill anything _interesting_ lately?" asked Jack's father.

Jack opted to drop the civil tone "And now we're on to my _career_, like _you _can talk you're the 3rd largest defense contractor in the fucking country you god damn hypocrite! You want to talk, let's talk about how many of your fucking guns are being carried by drug dealers and terrorists across the world!"

"A _small_ aspect of Hall Enterprises business, and if you want to talk about careers how about we talk about how you pissed yours the _fuck_ away!" shouted his father, also dropping the civil tone.

"Don't fucking start!" shouted Jack.

"_Valedictorian _of your high school class, _All-American_ athlete! Degrees in Political Science, Psychology, and History from Harvard plus two more in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T."

"And what the _fuck_ do you do with it all!? Besides wasting over 300,000 dollars of _my_ money! You go and join the fucking _Army_!"

"It's my fucking life Dad, and you've had it planned out since before I was born! How I was going to take over for you in the company, and then use my money to buy my way into office!"

"You could have been _president_ Jack, people...people follow you, they _listen _to you...they hang onto your every word, you are natural _leader_, you shouldn't be wasting your life in the Army, you're _better_ than that."

"I'm _not_ wasting my life, I'm serving my country instead of _leeching the life from it_ like you and all your Forbes 500 buddies."

"No you're not," said Jack's father waving his hand, "You're rebelling against me and ruining your life in the process."

"Well, what can I say," said Jack turning to leave, "It's been a _pleasure_ Dad, I'll be sure to save you a seat tomorrow." he said opening the door.

"Jack..." started his father then stopped.

Jack closed the door behind him and turned to his sister who had been leaning next to the door listening in.

"Jack, I'm so sorry," she said looking tearful.

"Come on, you don't want to be the bride that cries before her wedding," he said clasping her on the shoulder.

"Nobody likes those whiny bitches," he joked.

His sister laughed and wiped away the tears, "Yeah, you got a point," she said smiling.

"Let's go get some lunch," said Jack, acting as if nothing had happened.

-

It had been three days since the battle at Al-Gustaf and Jack had still yet to wake up. The doctor's had told Rachel that it was normal for some to go into a temporary coma like state after manifesting extremely powerful abilities so that there bodies could have time to adjust, Rachel was satisfied with the answer; for the time being anyway.

Rachel leaned back against the chair next to Jack's bed and watched him sleep, there was something strangely attractive about the man to Rachel, _not in a sexual way of course_ she very quickly told herself. More in a _molecular way_, the way two atoms might be attracted to one another, she couldn't explain it, she just felt a certain bond with him. Rachel didn't have many _actual _friends, due to what some would call a rather _abrasive_ personality. But the few friends she did have she was close too, she imagined she would even feel some sort of emotional pain if she were to lose one. She had a feeling that Jack was going to be one of those friends and for some reason wanted to be there when he woke up.

"Caring for someone is _such_ an inconvenient emotion," she thought out loud.

-

Someone pulled up the chair next to Jack and sat down. Jack didn't even bother looking up from his menu, he knew the presence anywhere.

"It would appear my sister just can't resist complicating my life." said Jack, smiling slightly

"Since when do _I_ complicate your life?" asked an indignant voice.

Jack put down his menu and turned to address the speaker, a beautiful red headed women with an English accent.

"Beautiful intelligent women just do, they can't help themselves," said Jack smiling.

"Your charm is still well and intact I see," said the women smiling.

"How are you Renee?" asked Jack.

"Oh very well thank you,"

"Although," said Renee leaning closer, "I must confess all this _wedding_ business has me a little _nostalgic_; it seems just yesterday that _you_ were proposing to _me_,"

"I was eight years old Renee," said Jack, smiling in spite of himself.

"Now Jack don't go making _light_ of the situation, _promises_ were made...and toy plastic rings were exchanged," said Renee matter-of-factly.

"Remind me, which promises were those?" asked Jack.

Renee tilted her head to the side, "I believe they involved a romantic honeymoon in Disneyland and Jon Bon Jovi playing at our wedding."

"How am I ever to make this right?" asked Jack grinning.

"Well you can start by buying me lunch, I'm sure I'll come up with a more _suitable_ punishment later," said Renee grinning slyly.

"Renee..." started Jack.

"_Relax _Jack, I was just making a _joke_ as you made abundantly clear last we spoke, our days of rolling around in the backseat of your Corvette have come to a _pass_," said Renee smiling sadly.

"I _never_ wanted to hurt you Renee," said Jack seriously.

"No, I don't imagine so; but you _did_ Jack."

Jack stared at Renee for several long seconds trying to think of the right words to say but Renee waved him off.

"Don't trouble yourself over it," she said cheerfully, "It's ancient history, so what's good on the menu?" asked Renee picking it up.

"I was going to go for the chimichangas," said Jack trying to smile.

"Renee!" shouted Sarah walking up to the table carrying a tray of drinks.

"Did you have any trouble finding the restaurant?"

"Not at all," said Renee, standing up to hug Sarah.

Sarah looked from Renee to Jack, "So how are my maid of honor and borderline retarded brother getting along?" she asked.

"_Swimmingly_," said Renee cheerfully.

"Oh we're having a _blast_ over here," said Jack raising his drink.

"Glad to hear it," said Sarah grinning.

Renee and Sarah broke into conversation but Jack's attention was suddenly distracted by the reappearance of the figure in white robes by the bar. The feeling of Deja'vu was stronger than ever Jack suddenly _knew_ he had lived this moment before, he began pushing with all his might to remember when and almost had it..._wait what was I doing?_ Thought Jack shaking his head trying to remember, _Oh well, it probably wasn't important anyway_ he thought.

-

It had been 6 days since the battle of Al-Gustaf and Jack had still yet to wake up.

"The CAT scan shows a highly unusual level of activity, but they may just be the result of whatever his power is," said the doctor putting the picture to the light.

"In any case I believe it explains the coma. His brain is literally rewiring itself, something that would be incredibly dangerous were he awake."

The doctor turned to Rachel, "Do you have any theories as to what his power might be?"

"Originally I though it might be some sort of psychokinesis but after seeing the explosion in Al-Gustaf I don't have _clue_ what it could be,"

"Be sure to alert me if his condition changes," said the doctor leaving the room.

"You got it Doc," said Rachel leaning back against the chair next to Jack's bed and picking up a book.

It wasn't like there was anywhere else to go on the ship, besides she liked the quiet in here.

-

Jack checked his appearance in the mirror and gave a low whistle.

"God _damn_ I look good," he said straightening out his tuxedo.

Jack's cell phone vibrated in his pocket, he reached in and flipped it open.

"Lieutenant Hall." said Jack, speaking into the phone.

"Hey Jack, your sister gave me your number," came his father's voice over the phone.

"That girl has a biological urge to meddle in my affairs," stated Jack.

His father chuckled over the phone.

"Look I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday, It's not easy to admit when your kids are capable of running their own lives, it means you've become obsolete." said his father.

"I don't think I have once heard you admit a mistake in my _entire_ life," said Jack, genuinely astonished.

"Well, life's full of surprises isn't it?" joked his father, quoting Jack's words from earlier.

"I guess I have a confession of my own to make. I was never going to make the Army my career, I just thought the thought of it would piss you off. This is just something I have to do for right now, I don't expect you to understand what I'm talking about."

"Well that's good because I _don't_, but I'm not going to let it stand in the way of have a relationship with my son either." said his father.

"Why don't you come down to the office, I'm ordering breakfast, they serve a decent doughnut around here." said his father.

"Breakfast of champions," grinned Jack.

-

The cab came to a screeching halt as a shadow flew over head.

"What the hell...?" said the cab driver looking out the window.

**BOOOOM!!!!**

The explosion was like a flash grenade exploding next to your ear, cars up and down the street had their alarms ringing while people outside were screaming and pointing at the sky. Jack poked his head out the window and looked at where they were pointing, a pit of ice suddenly formed in his stomach as Jack stared at the view before him, the fuselage of a plane was sticking out of the top of of the Northern Twin Tower while clouds of smoke were gushing out of the tower as if it were actually_ bleeding_ from the wound.

Jack unhooked his seatbelt and jumped outside running through the crowd of people fleeing in the opposite direction and pushed his way to the World Trade Center. All around him were crowds of hysterical people desperately clinging to their cell phones trying to get a hold of their loved ones it was while Jack was trying to step around a mother screaming into her phone for her daughter to pick up that the second shadow flew overhead.

**BOOOOM!!!!**

The force of this explosion actually knocked Jack to the ground, that or the sudden surge of people running the other way. From his spot on the crowd Jack watched as smoke issued up from the Southern Tower, the Tower in which his father worked. Jack got to his feet and began running with renewed speed. It took him nearly 50 minutes to make his way through the crowd of people to the police barricade set up outside the tower, he tried to move past but was stopped by an officer.

"I'm sorry sir but you have to clear the area, no one but Emergency Services is allowed past this point."

"I'm Lieutenant Jack Hall United States Army Special Forces, move aside or _be_ moved aside." snapped Jack.

"Look sir you-"

Jack aimed a light chop to the officer's throat and kicked his legs out from under him then ran past the barricade toward the Twin Towers, then he saw his father. He was 200 feet away at the entrance of the South Tower being ushered out along with a crowd of office workers by a group of fire fighters.

"DAD!" shouted Jack.

His father looked up with a shocked expression.

_"Jack?" _he mouthed.

For the rest of his life Jack would remember what happened next. First there was a horrible screeching noise like nails on chalk board then the entire Tower gave a violent shudder and collapsed on top of his father and the fire fighters right before Jack's eyes.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Jack tried to run into the oncoming dust cloud but was suddenly shoved behind cover by the police officer he had knocked to the ground just moments before. The officer held him to the ground.

"Keep your head down!" he shouted over the sound of the dust cloud and terrified city dwellers.

Many things were going through Jack's head at the moment hurt, shock, anger, but most of all an overwhelming desire for _revenge_, to lash out at the people responsible for what had happened, to make them feel _everything _he was feeling right now.

-

Jack finished packing his duffel bag and threw it over his shoulder and moved to leave the room but was blocked by Renee who had appeared at the door.

"You can't go. You're needed _here_ not half way across the world dealing out frontier justice to people you've never met before."

"They never met me either," replied Jack, "But that didn't stop them from trying to destroy my life. I'm just returning the favor,"

Renee slapped Jack hard across the face.

"So what are you going to do Jack? Bomb their homes to high hell? Make some _orphans_ while you're at it?"

"Is that what you think of me Renee? That I'm some sort of _monster_?" asked Jack quietly.

"No," said Renee, "But unless you keep some _perspective_ you're well on your way to becoming what you hate."

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Jack dryly trying to move past her, but Renee blocked him again.

"And what about your sister? You're the only family she has left."

"Not true, she has you and I would just drag you both down with me anyway, where I'm going is _dark_, _twisted_, and _scary_ and I _won't_ let you follow me there." he said finally stepping past her.

Renee suddenly grabbed Jack and kissed him hard.

"Just...Don't forget who you are," she said letting him go.

She then turned and left leaving Jack standing in the hallway, that was when the figure in white robes appeared again this time next to Jack.

**"I believe I have a measure of who you are now Jack Hall,"** said the figure in an other worldly voice.

The fog that had been clouding Jack's mind suddenly dropped and all of Jack's memories came flooding back to him, he remembered the alien space ship beneath Babylon and the white light.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" roared Jack grabbing the figure by the throat and shoving it hard against the wall.

"Do you have any idea what you've done to me! Making me live this shit over again!" he said slamming the figure against the wall again, this time the figure's hood came off and Jack saw it's face for the first time, it wasn't human, nothing on _earth_ looked like this.

**"You need not worry, when you wake up you will remember none of this, and I will go back to hiding in the back of your mind."**

"_You!_ You were what was on that ship!" said Jack shocked.

**"Correct,"** said the creature.

"Why are you here? Why are you doing this?"

"**We have a mission to complete Jack Hall,"** said the creature, **"Together you and I shall save Humanity from bringing about its own destruction."**

-

Jack suddenly woke gasping for air he looked around the room he was in and saw Rachel sitting on the other side of the room in a chair drinking on a smoothie and reading a book.

"Finally awake are you?" she said not looking up.

"Where am I?" he choked, his mouth dry.

"Los Angeles, California you've been out cold for 10 days straight." she said looking up from the book and walking over to cupboard and pulling out some clothes and throwing them on Jack's bed.

Jack sat up and tried to get out of bed and felt a twinge of pain.

"You're wounds are mostly healed now, I'll go ahead and leave so you can get dressed," she said opening the door.

She paused at the door for a moment, "Oh, and welcome to the team," she said, then left.


	4. Chapter 4: One Of Us

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out, I've been kind of out of it. A little bit of advice never ever eat burritos purchased from a Fred Meyer Deli, trust me on this.

Okay a question has been creeping up alot about whether or not I'm going to put characters from the show into the story. I do have plans for a few characters such as Adam Monroe to make appearences, but their roles in the story won't be anything major. I want to keep the focus on Jack and I'm trying to give the story it's own unique mythology just like the show has it's own amazing mythology in place. The playlist for this chapter is available on my author's page just click on the link and click play. And as always I really want to know what you think of the story and I'm always happy to return the favor if there are any stories you want me to review for you.

* * *

Jack put on the pair of blue jeans that Rachel had thrown him and threw on the white T-shirt and running shoes then opened the door and turned to Rachel who was leaning on the wall next to it reading a portfolio. 

"Where the hell is my team?" asked Jack.

"Dead," said Rachel unconcernedly.

"Oh," said Jack reasonably.

Jack ripped the portfolio from Rachel's hands and threw it to the ground

"What the hell do you mean_ dead_!" he demanded.

Rachel locked eyes with Jack.

"Dead as in _not living_, belly up, perished, cadaverous, wasted, checked out; I could give you some more synonyms but the bottom line in that they went and got themselves all corpseified and gross. Accept it and _move on_, they were soldiers and they did their duty, no point in getting all _upset_ over it."

Jack gave her a nasty smile, "You are _so_ damaged,"

"Takes one to know one," said Rachel bending down to pick up the portfolio.

"This is quite an interesting read by the way," said Rachel indicating the portfolio.

"What is it?" asked Jack.

"Your _entire_ military history, this is the kind of resume you would expect of a Colonel with over 20 years experience, not a Captain that's only been in for 8 years."

"How the _fuck_ did you get a hold my service record when it's classified Top Secret?"

"With _very_ little difficulty," said Rachel smugly.

"Who the hell are you guys?" demanded Jack, starting to get pissed off.

"A privately funded organization tasked with fighting all the evil and injustice in the world; it's on our mission statement." said Rachel smiling.

"Was that a joke?" asked Jack.

"Yeah, why? Was it not funny?" asked Rachel perplexed.

Jack leaned close to Rachel, "Three of my friends are _dead_ along with my military career, and I want some answers as to _why_,"

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't mourn the loss of your military career over much, a man of your talents is entirely wasted in the Army."

_The thing to understand about Rachel, is that she is somewhat _lacking_ in people skills; they say in psychology that a person's childhood shapes who they are as an adult, well Rachel never actually _had_ a childhood, she was raised by The Organization from birth. When most girls her age had pictures of unicorns on their walls and were playing with dolls, Rachel was running covert assignments and playing with a wide variety of guns and knifes. In truth Rachel was as much a casualty of war as the soldiers being shipped home in planes with the American flag draped over their casket. But all this is a story for another time, let's try and stay _focused

Jack closed his eyes and breathed deeply

"Counting backwards from ten? Does that actually work?" asked Rachel curiously.

"The impulse to strangle you is slightly diminished, yes." said Jack opening his eyes.

"I want to know _everything_." stated Jack.

-

"It started in 1934, the year of the first Black Incident; this was the year when the government became aware of the existence of evolutionary advanced beings; at the same time they also became painfully aware that humanity was not _alone_ in the universe." said Rachel walking down the hall with Jack at her side.

"What was the Black Incident?" asked Jack.

"I'm unaware of the exact details, all I know is that it resulted in the complete destruction of a small town in the American Mid-West. What's important is what happened _afterwards_. After the first Black Incident the government came to the _brilliant_ conclusion that widespread knowledge of the existence of people like us would incite panic and chaos in the masses and threaten their power and control over the population; so they initiated a policy of covering up anything might destabilize their power base. Under the direction of President Roosevelt a covert government agency, known only as _The Agency_ was created; it's original assignment was to just keep knowledge of our existence from coming to the public light, but it's goals and powers rapidly expanded as more of us were discovered. Not long after its creation the Agency became to powerful to control and shortly after went rogue, disappearing into the government woodwork."

Rachel continued "The goals of The Agency are now entirely its own, The Agency has unlimited resources at its disposal and more political power than the President of the United States. It is the opinion of The Organization that this bloated masterless monster should not be allowed to exist and be destroyed, and we have been trying very hard to do just that for the past fifty years."

_Rogue agencies are a _serious_ pain in my ass there are over a dozen of them operating out of the government; most of them are relics of the Cold War, agencies created for a very specific purpose and then forgotten about afterwards, left to do god only knows what with absolutely no oversight and fear of repercussions. The N.S.A. has entire units tasked with finding them and putting an end to them; but unfortunately the fuckers have gotten pretty good at hiding themselves. They attach themselves to legitimate agencies such the C.I.A. or even the Food and Drug Administration and then camouflage their expenses with a never ending paper trail. Rogue agencies tend to get up to some pretty scary shit, seriously, you don't even want to know._

"Tell me about the UFO underneath Babylon, what did you want with it what the hell is it?" asked Jack.

"I was only given very basic information about it, the date it crashed, the bunker in which it was located, nothing of real value. I'm as much in the dark about it as you are," explained Rachel.

"What do you know about the aliens? You said they were involved in the first Black Incident?" asked Jack, forgetting all about his anger for the moment

Rachel stared at Jack for a moment then breathed deeply, "There is a _theory_, and not a very popular one that aliens might have influenced human evolution somewhere down the line; that they are responsible for our abilities."

"Why is that unpopular?" asked Jack, perplexed.

"Because it implies that humanity is just a giant science experiment, and one that is still ongoing," said Rachel simply.

"Well _there's_ an unpleasant thought."

Rachel smiled, "Glad to see you've stopped yelling, it was starting to become a bit boring,"

"What can I say Rachel, you bring out the best in people," said Jack sarcastically.

"And now the sarcasm is back, _peachy_," muttered Rachel.

Jack and Rachel walked into a large room filled with sparring mats and expensive workout equipment. The mats were currently occupied with what Jack could clearly see were professional martial artists that could give the guys in the UFC a run for their money.

"This where The Organization's operatives train, you will have to be tested here before you can become one."

"I never said I was going to join."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, "Oh, you'll join," she said smiling slyly.

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because you want answers, and we're the only ones who will give them to you, and because I know your type," said Rachel matter-of-factly.

Jack raised an eyebrow "My type?"

"Thrill seeker, adrenaline junkie; whatever you want to call it you're not the kind of person suited for a desk job. You're the kind of person who has to be where the action is; just like me." said Rachel knowingly.

"You just got me all figured out don't you sweetheart," said Jack a little condescendingly.

Rachel sidelooked Jack for a second then turned her attention foreward, "Not yet," she said, "But I'm getting there fast."

Rachel stepped towards one of the sparring mats and addressed it's occupants, "Out," she stated.

The two fighters quickly backed out, Rachel then turned to Jack, "Since we're here might as well get the testing out of the way, dontcha think?" she said smiling dangerously.

"Why, do you like starting out the morning by getting your ass kicked?" asked Jack stepping closer to the mat.

"I feel like we need to work out some of this_ tension_ between us, you're starting to get positively _bitchy_, I'll even give you a handicap, how does no arms sound?" asked Rachel.

"Keep the arms, you'll need them to crawl away," said Jack stepping into the ring.

The group of onlookers who had gathered around Rachel and Jack winced at this move.

"He _really_ should have taken the handicap," one of them muttered.

"Whatever you say Rocky," said Rachel grinning.

_You know looking back...this fight _probably_ wasn't such a smart move on my part._

Jack suddenly dashed foreward and lashed out with his elbow, Rachel caught it in one hand then jabbed Jack in the throat. Jack fell back several feet clutching his throat and coughing.

"Not a bad move, classic special forces tactic," observed Rachel walking foreward.

Jack lashed out again, this time Rachel grabbed both his arms in her hands and yanked him towards her locking him up.

Rachel leaned in to whisper in Jack's ear, "But you're playing in a whole new league now handsome; you've got to step up your game,"

Rachel fell backwards, lifting Jack over her shoulders and slamming him hard against the mat as she landed on the ground.

"Ummm, _ow_," groaned Jack from the floor.

Rachel got to her feet and moved to stand over him, "Want to start calling for Adrien now?" asked Rachel grinning smugly.

Jack suddenly lashed out with his legs and knocked a slightly surprised Rachel to the ground. Jack moved on top of Rachel attempting to hold her down. Rachel let him get close enough then shoved his arms to the side of his chest and gripped him in an impossibly tight bear hug and wrapped her legs around his rendering him completely immobile.

"You sucker punched me, I'm _impressed_," said Rachel appreciatively.

Rachel began squeezing tighter, slowly flushing the air out of Jack's lungs.

"If this is how you cuddle count me out," grunted Jack, trying to break her iron grip.

Rachel grinned, her face was less than an inch away from Jack's.

"You might want to _tap out_ before you _pass out_," advised Rachel.

"I can hold my breath for pretty long time," said Jack conversationally.

_"Can you?"_ asked Rachel impishly.

Rachel leaned foreward and covered Jack's lips with her own, and gave him a kiss that fell somewhere above a PG-13 rating. Jack gave a surprised gasp and all the air flushed out of his lungs.

"You cheated," croaked Jack.

"No such thing," grinned Rachel, shortly before Jack passed out.

-

Jack woke with a start grabbing the arm that was holding a metal object to his chest.

"Could I have my arm back please?"

Jack looked up from the exam table he was currently laying on and saw a woman with blue and pink hair in a white lab coat standing over him holding a stethoscope to his chest.

"You'll have to forgive him Zoey, Jack tends to get pretty _handsy_," said Rachel leaning on the wall across from him.

Jack let go of the woman's arm and took a look around at the room he was in. It was filled with what Jack could see was some very expensive and high tech equipment.

"That's funny coming from the woman who just sexually assaulted me, I don't suppose you guys have a human resources department?"said Jack.

Rachel laughed.

"What is this place?" asked Jack.

"This is my office," said Zoey, "We were running a few tests on you while you were napping."

"What kind of tests?" asked Jack.

"We're trying to determine the exact nature of your abilities," said Zoey sitting down on a stool next to Jack.

"Don't look at me, I don't have a clue what they are; I black out every time I use them, last thing I remember before waking up was a bullet entering my shoulder and then nothing."

Zoey nodded, "It's strange, but not unheard of, some abilities take time for the body to adjust to, blacking out might just be your body's way of coping."

"Anyway, I have a theory based on the eye witness reports; I think that your power revolves around the ability to manipulate _Dark Energy_." said Zoey, her eyes flashing with excitement.

"Dark Energy?" said Jack skeptically.

Zoey attempted to explain "It's the force-"

"That's causing the rapid expansion of the universe, I know what Dark Energy is," said Jack finishing Zoey's statement.

"OK then smart ass; as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted; scientists are finding that Dark Energy has the ability to bend the laws that govern the universe; defying gravity for example which is what I believe you did in the bunker reversing gravity around the mercenaries and sending them flying into the wall. As for the explosion in Al-Gustaf perhaps you used Dark Energy to start a chain reaction in the molecules around you, creating a sort of nuclear explosion. The only problem with my theory is that there is absolutely no way you could do these things without massive amounts of training; no hero can control their abilities like that the moment they first manifest; not without some serious help anyway..." said Zoey her voice trailing off thoughtfully.

Zoey shook her head, "Forget it, it's impossible."

"What's impossible?" asked Rachel.

"That I could somehow be more awesome," said Zoey evasively.

Rachel fixed Zoey with a stare, "Zoey, you had better not be holding out on me."

"Relax Rachel, if you needed to know then you would know." said Zoey smiling.

Zoey was one of a handful of people the Rachel actually trusted so she took it at her word.

Jack decided to focus on another topic, he would figure out what was going on later. "Why did you call me a hero?" he asked.

"Because it sounds catchier than evolutionary advanced being," said Zoey.

Jack inclined his head, "How many do you have working for you?"

"We have a little over 500 in our employ; 18 of which are stationed right here in Los Angeles."

"Are you one of them?" asked Jack.

Zoey grinned, "Nope, I'm just your average run of the mill human being with a 172 IQ,"

"She can be kind of braggy," explained Rachel, "You'll get used to it."

Jack got up and walked over to some of the machinery and took a closer look at it.

"Your new identity is ready to go," said Zoey walking over to her desk and picking up a brief case.

_"New Identity?"_

"Captain Jack Hall has been declared MIA along with the rest of his squad; it is believed they were captured by the Mahdi Army while on patrol,"

"How the hell did you manage that!?" demanded Jack.

"We didn't. The Agency did; they are very good at cleaning up; they also know that we have you." said Zoey handing Jack the brief case.

Jack opened it up and found a passport as well as several forms of ID and a Social Security Card. Jack took a look at the picture on the ID.

"This will never work, these pictures look nothing like me."

Zoey sighed, "Unfortunately new identification is not enough to throw the Agency off your track. They have a super computer programmed to sift through every surveillance data base in the country to locate the faces of known Organization operatives; and you _are_ a known face."

"No fucking way I'm doing plastic surgery!" snapped Jack.

"Plastic surgery is _so _crude, we prefer a more sophisticated approach," she said gesturing to Rachel.

"Look what I can do," said Rachel.

Rachel's face suddenly shimmered and was replaced with a face that looked nothing like hers; her eyes that were completely blue were replaced with normal eyes with brown irises, her facial bones were radically altered as well, only her hair remained unchanged. Rachel's face shimmered again and went back to normal.

"Neat trick," said Jack.

"Holoemitters surgically implanted at key points in the face and activated by thought via a microchip implanted in the brain. The technology is based on the powers of a hero who had the ability to bend light." explained Zoey.

"All of our operatives have some sort of cybernetic enhancement; same with the Agency, though they take it to much further extremes than us."

"How long does the operation take?" asked Jack.

"20 minutes with a recovery time of 1 hour." said Zoey simply.

"You're going to put a microchip in my brain and the recovery time is only an hour?" said Jack incredulously.

"We enter through the nose, less invasive. The hour is so that the chip can synchronize with your thought patterns and the holoemitters. The holoemitters are attached just beneath your skin using an injection gun."

Jack was starting to get a picture of the new league in which he was now playing.

"When do I get put in the field?" asked Jack.

"When you understand what you're fighting," said a voice behind him.

Jack turned around and found himself staring down an Asian man with close cropped hair in his mid 50's and a brown suit.

"You're playing a a very different kind of game Mr. Hall. I was a military man myself once upon a time, things are easier in the military. You always know who your enemy is and good and bad are both clearly separated. In the world that you have inadvertently stumbled into it's all..._shades of gray._ In this world the enemy hides in plain view, you pass him on the street, you bump into him at Starbucks he's the one who lends you a quarter when you come up short on the bill. In this world the enemy can be anyone; so the question becomes who can you trust Mr. Hall?"

Jack raised an eyebrow, "Allow me to pose a question of my own; who the fuck are you?"

The man smiled and raised his hands, "Apologies, you may call me Saber."

"Well _Saber_; If you want to talk about trust you might as well know I don't trust a god damned person in this room besides myself and I don't see that as likely to change in the immediate future. So either stop trying to pull my dick or give me a job, because I am in absolutely no mood to play your fucking games."

The room went very quiet, Zoey radiated a strong sense of dread even Rachel was a little shocked. Apparently Saber wasn't the kind you told to kiss your ass, but Jack frankly didn't give a shit.

Saber just smiled and turned to Zoey, "Finish Mr Hall's physical and implant the holoemitters; I might just have a job for him after all."

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. Hall," said Saber turning to leave.

"Way to go; you pissed him off." noted Rachel.

"He didn't seem pissed," replied Jack

"You won't be saying that after the mission." Rachel assured him.


End file.
